Nine teachers buy one Powerball ticket ‘as a joke’ and win big in North Carolina
A running joke paid off big for a group of school teachers when they pooled change for a Powerball ticket and won a six-figure prize, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery.
The nine women work together at Swansboro Elementary in Onslow County, and they invested about 33 cents each to buy the $3 ticket.
It won them $100,000. Split nine ways, that’s $11,110 each, or $7,972 after required state and federal taxes, state lottery officials said in a news release.
The group calls itself the “Nine Lucky Pirates” – a reference to the school’s mascot. Swansboro Elementary has about 630 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
“Fifteen years ago it just kind of started as a joke and we were walking down the hall going, ‘If we won that we could retire early,’” Nicole Meadows of Hubert said in the release.
She is the one who discovered they finally won something, and Meadows admits being confused at first over the amount. It proved to be twice her original guess.
“I’m like, oh my god, we won a $100,000. ... I couldn’t hardly talk. I was, like, hyperventilating.”
They got the winning Power Play ticket at a Walmart on West Corbett Avenue, just over a mile from the school. They won in the Nov. 24 drawing, lottery officials said.
In addition to Meadows, the teachers were identified as: Leah Allen of Swansboro; Mary Brooks of Swansboro; Leah Cottle of Swansboro; Suellen Dixon of Swansboro; Lori Jones of Maysville; Jill Kidd of Hubert; Cynthia Paredes of Hubert and Melinda Whorley of Hubert.
Swansboro is about a 140-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.
How much is the Powerball jackpot
The Powerball jackpot has soared to $1.7 billion, or a cash value of $781.3 million. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
“Wednesday’s jackpot ranks as the fourth largest in Powerball history and among U.S. lottery games,” the lottery’s game website says.
The Powerball jackpot was last won Sept. 6 when two players in Texas and Missouri matched all six numbers and split a record-breaking $1.787 billion prize.
Winners in North Carolina have 180 days from the drawing date to claim prizes and are encouraged to check and sign the back of their ticket, lottery officials said.
What to know about Powerball
To score the jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be purchased on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 8:14 AM with the headline "Nine teachers buy one Powerball ticket ‘as a joke’ and win big in North Carolina."